My baby isn't a baby anymore :(

Hmm...I'm not sure anyone reads this blog anymore, but just in case anyone is interested in the mundane goings on around here, here's the latest:

-Isaiah continues to be the most amazing, adorable thing ever! I can't believe he is nearly 13 months old! I no longer have a baby, but a toddler. How is it possible that time flies this quickly? We did the best we could to celebrate Isaiah's first birthday with a lot of good company, fun, and love in lieu of bombarding the kid with useless presents. My thoughts on that another day. He had his official party a bit early and it turned out great. I spent the month prior to the party crafting decorations and went on a 16-hour cupcake/smash-cake decorating marathon the night before. Thankfully this kid only turns 1 once! We were exhausted afterward and needed a full week to recover. :)

-Isaiah finally got to meet Kai, my friend Nichole's baby. Our due dates were only a few weeks apart and we both ended up with preemies. They live in Australia now so the boys weren't able to meet until they were a year old. It was wonderful to see how sweet Isaiah is with others. He was immediately trying to hug Kai and share toys. I think this freaked out poor Kai who was still recovering from jetlag. Unfortunately, we didn't stay long since the meeting place turned out to be a little on the nasty side...that's what you get for choosing a place at random in the city...which reminds me...it was Isaiah's first major day out in the big city of Chicago. Mark and I got all nostalgic about living in the city until we had to find parking. It was a quick reminder why one might opt to live in the middle of a cornfield near a trailer park.

- At the end of August, Aunt Katie and her son Jacob flew in from Nashville (Jacob is only 3 months younger than Isaiah). We took both the boys to their first baseball game (the Cubs) on Isaiah's birthday. We kept the ticket stubs with his birth date on them and an autographed baseball for memories.

- On Labor Day weekend, we jam packed the days with activities. Mark's birthday was also that weekend so I treated him to dinner and a movie while Isaiah rocked out at home with Aunt Jen. The next day we took off to Brookfield Zoo with a friend and his 2 boys. I have so many adorable pictures of Isaiah checking out the seals, his favorite part. It took him awhile to realize the animals were real I think. Once he did he kept "pointing" at everything(Isaiah doesn't actually point, he stretches out his arm with his palm up as if to say, "ta-da"...we call it the Vanna White). Later that night we went to Aunt Nikki's where Isaiah met his new girlfriend and demonstrated bashfulness for the first time! It was hilarious.

Check out my facebook page to see the photos.

In other news, Mark and I are still hatching plans to flee the area. We have been going back and forth about when/if it is possible to leave. We've opted for Mark to put in for a transfer so that whenever the next position comes open we go where they tell us to go. I can only hope I won't soon be stuck in Iowa. Keeping my fingers crossed for Georgia...good bye snowy winters!

Must, get, sleep, now. :)

More Mischief

My Week of Mischief - Part 2

After unraveling the mysteries of the toilet the other day, I discovered that closets are wonderful hiding places.



Mom decided to put a stop to that game too soon, so I retaliated by drinking all of her water.



Apparently it wasn't a good idea to spill the leftover water on the carpet and play in it. This got me stuck in time out.



As much as I tried to resist, I couldn't stave off the sleep.

My Week of Mischief - Part 1

With my first birthday around the corner, I figured I had some exploring/catching up to do so that I'm no longer mistaken for a baby.

I started in the bathroom, which is filled with wonders like mirrors and water. I then discovered my new favorite toy...its called a toilet.



Later that evening, I spied on the neighbors...



... and then I rocked myself to sleep with my built-in pacifiers.

Boogie Nights

Given Isaiah's love of decent music we recently decided to switch out the children's lullabies with regular music for adults. Ahhh...sweet relief humming over the baby monitor all night. :) It was working quite well. The other night I was exhausted and left an India Arie CD in the player. Its a little on the upbeat side, but I thought I'd give it a shot and see if he would sleep to it. I started hearing some strange movement over the monitor shortly after laying him down. This is what I found when I investigated further...

About Me For a Minute

First, I'm super excited that my craft blog (ohcrafy1.com) is getting a decent amount of visitors already! What's more exciting is that I'll finally be getting that super fantastic blog theme soon (I'm waiting on Mark to get that worked out for me). Hopefully the new look will make my blog look a bit more professional than it looks today.

Secondly, Ezine is publishing the craft articles I've submitted (I think this is helping my blog traffic). This is a no-brainer, but I was worried they would reject me for some reason.

Third (ly?), I have finished the glorious "Patchy Sweater Coat" that I co-designed with my sister. I have plenty of math ahead of me to meet the requirements of the website I'm submitting to and some photos to take, but its essentially done. Keep your fingers crossed for me that it gets accepted for the Fall or Winter issue. If it gets accepted I can put it up on the blogs.

Fourth, my attempt at a writing a book on decoupage is going better than expected. It probably won't be finished for several more months, but at least its underway (an I'm getting hits galore on this topic so hopefully it will be somewhat successful).

Fifth, we're hoping to move soon! Our plan is to rent our townhouse given the poor real estate market so spread the word. If anyone knows of a reliable renter pass on my info. Its a 3-bed, 1.5 bath, 2 car garage, 2-story townhouse. Less than 2 years old, hardwood flooring, floor-to-ceiling slate fireplace, matching slate tile in the kitchen, freshly painted, purified water filtration system in the kitchen, maintained by a local, professional property management company, and much much more!

Zae's New Dance

Zae has always loved music, which has blossomed into a love of dancing. Here's a little tidbit of him trying to copy his aunt Jen dancing in the kitchen.